Friday's deeply disappointing jobs report should light a fire under Congress, which has dithered despite signs the economy is struggling to kick back into gear.
Driving the news: President-elect Biden said Friday afternoon in Wilmington that he supports another round of $1,200 checks.
Video game giant Activision Blizzard filed a lawsuit against Netflix in a California court Friday alleging that the entertainment giant broke the law when it hired away Activision's chief financial officer Spencer Neumann last January.
Why it matters: The lawsuit alleges Netflix offered to pay Neumann's legal fees if he broke his contract, painting the portrait of a corporation willing to go to great lengths to poach star talent.
This week I'm driving the 2021 Ford F-150 Powerboost hybrid, a surprisingly impressive pickup truck that delivers everything owners want, plus better fuel economy.
The big picture: The hybrid F-150 is no wimpy truck. It can still tow more than 12,000 pounds and carry more than a ton of cargo. But it'll also get you 20% better fuel economy at an EPA-rated 24 mpg, meaning you can go 700 miles between fill-ups.
Luminar Technologies, which makes laser sensors for self-driving cars, started trading as a public company on Thursday, turning its 25-year-old founder Austin Russell into an instant billionaire.
Why it matters: Luminar is emerging as one of the leading suppliers of lidar technology, which uses laser beams to give vehicles a three-dimensional view of the road.
The Cheesecake Factory this morning became the first public company charged by the SEC with misleading investors about the pandemic's financial impact on its business.
Driving the news: The SEC claims that the sugar slinger reported "materially false" information in its March 23 and April 3 filings by saying that it was "operating sustainably" by shifting to pickup and delivery.
The number of people receiving unemployment benefits is falling but remains remarkably high three weeks before pandemic assistance programs are set to expire. More than 1 million people a week are still filing for initial jobless claims, including nearly 300,000 applying for pandemic assistance.
By the numbers: As of Nov. 14, 20.2 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits of some kind, including more than 13.4 million on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs that were created as part of the CARES Act and end on Dec. 26.
While the Fed chair has downplayed and even denied the central bank's role in ratcheting up income inequality and the K-shaped recovery, other Fed members are taking responsibility and calling for change.
What happened: San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly took the subject head-on in a speech earlier this week, saying the Fed "will need to do more to ensure that the benefits of low interest rates and rising asset valuations can spread widely throughout the economy."
The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 6.9%, the government said on Friday.
Why it matters: The labor market continues to recover even as coronavirus cases surge— though it's still millions of jobs short of the pre-pandemic level. The problem is that the rate of recovery is slowing significantly.
A spate of recent U.S. economic data releases suggest that inflation could be making a major comeback.
Driving the news: Thursday's report on the U.S. services sector for November from the Institute for Supply Management was slightly better than expected but still down from October's reading, however, the bigger story was in the prices paid index.
Copper prices rose to the highest since March 2013 on Thursday, spurred by substantial increases in orders from China and expectations it will be a major component in new green energy projects.
Why it matters: Dr. Copper, as the metal is affectionately known, is a bellwether for the economy because it is used for wiring, piping and in most construction projects and household appliances.
President-elect Biden faces a fragile recovery that could easily fall apart, as the economy remains in worse shape than most people think.
Why it matters: There is a recovery happening. But it's helping some people immensely and others not at all. And it's that second part that poses a massive risk to the Biden-Harris administration's chance of success.
President-elect Joe Biden is building an economic team to deal with a post-COVID economic free fall, and a jobs report coming out Friday — expected to show reduced hiring last month — is anticipated to give that group a preview of coming attractions.
Why it matters: Biden's economic advisers are worried any failure to inject money into the economy now will only multiply their challenges once they take office, but President Trump remains fixated on litigating his election loss.
